Most people get presents or have parties thrown for them on special occasions. Philip Glass, however, was in more of a giving mood as he celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday at the end of January. The candles on his cake marked the start of a remarkable year that has the American composer travelling around the worldContinue reading “Philip Glass”
Author Archives: Musicworks
Binatone Galaxy
Binatone Galaxy is an installation for used cassette players that looks on their obsolescence not as an ending, but as an opportunity to reconsider their functional potential. Superseded by digital audio players as recording and playback devices, cassette players become, in this work, instruments in their own right. The piece takes irreverent delight in disposingContinue reading “Binatone Galaxy”
Nico Muhly
“Rules in cooking are not iron-cast (and, as in any medium of expression, they are often bent or broken by practitioners of talent—but to break rules, one must have rules). They are merely the expression of a well of experience formed and enriched over the centuries, re-examined, modified, or altered in terms of changing needs,Continue reading “Nico Muhly”
Adam Basanta
“I’ve always been interested in perception and apperception,” writes Montreal-based composer Adam Basanta in a recent e-mail correspondence. “This has led me, as a musician and composer, to centre my work on listening as a perceptual and psychological experience.” The cerebral nature of this statement is in direct contradiction to the playful Web image ofContinue reading “Adam Basanta”
Scott Thomson
Among bike bells, olives, and music maps, Scott Thomson lounges in his Montreal apartment, seeming to enjoy a relaxed summer evening. Later, the sight of his trombone—on a stand nearby—will remind him he has a lot of work to do. Scott is working on new piece to take place at the Art Gallery of OntarioContinue reading “Scott Thomson”
Gregory Oh
On the first Sunday in March 2011, at the Betty Oliphant Theatre in Toronto, Gregory Oh performed in a concert featuring the works of British composer Jonathan Harvey. Oh wore a grey-collared shirt and black pants. His Fluevog shoes were shiny black with aqua laces, which even under his piano caught the lowest light. AtContinue reading “Gregory Oh”
Braids, Grimes, and Doldrums
In 1981 in a small town called Dunedin in New Zealand, a trio of young musicians called The Clean, recorded a handful of fuzzy, sloppy pop songs on a four-track Portastudio. For connoisseurs of what is now known as indie-pop, their infectious energy and heartfelt yearning have stood the test of time. Theirs was musicContinue reading “Braids, Grimes, and Doldrums”
Terri Hron joins the flock
The slight, bright-eyed woman comfortably seated in her sunny Montreal studio is known as a musical beast. Hard to imagine. But the epithet is just one of several that contemporary recorder player and composer Terri Hron has earned—not on the expected grounds of virtuosity, but rather for her self-described unrefined and unconventional technique. Yes, you’veContinue reading “Terri Hron joins the flock”
Kitchen Chorus
over breakfast, writing in my head, i can’t hear the words land—they’re swallowed back down the chute they come from—thud of molars as they chew buttered toast which slides, with a slick suck, into the whirlpool of digestive juices—outside, rain is rivetting itself to the ground, a seamless crackle all around tacks maple leaf toContinue reading “Kitchen Chorus”
Cléo Palacio-Quintin
“My work as a composer is eminently solitary. I feel like an island, but each island is a world, and in turn I am composed of these many worlds.” This is how Montreal composer, hyper-flute inventor, and performer Cléo Palacio-Quintin describes her work. Introspective and speaking in metaphor, she appears more apt to read aloudContinue reading “Cléo Palacio-Quintin”